


Who Are You

by ShaiShinxter



Series: VLD Playlist [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:35:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25143232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaiShinxter/pseuds/ShaiShinxter
Summary: Keith and Lance reflect on their feelings and slowly figure things out.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: VLD Playlist [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1468246
Kudos: 4





	Who Are You

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another addition of the VLD Playlist series. Today's song is brought to you by Aquilo's "Who Are You" which you can find [here.](https://youtu.be/3xs5mpNKRA0)

Keith struggled with Shiro's weight over his shoulder.

Shiro was a lot lighter than he remembered him being, but it had also been a year since the Kerberos mission—since he had gone missing—and Keith couldn't really remember how heavy Shiro had been before that. His body seemed more lean and skinny now like he had kept up the workouts but not the meals. The new deep scar over the bridge of his nose made Keith both angry and sad to look at, and the man's hair had grayed as if he had aged 50 years in their months apart... for a moment Keith wasn't really sure if it was him, but that moment was fleeting. He'd know Shiro anywhere, no matter what he looked like.

_[Who are you]_

A couple of Garrison students Keith’s age stumbled in as he tried to move Shiro away from the operating table and towards the door. At first he felt a chill up his spine at the thought of being caught, and then a rage in his chest at the flash of ideas surging through his mind on how he'd get himself and Shiro out of this mess. How he'd get them home.

_[Forgive me, I'm hopeless with faces]_

The one that called himself Lance argued his way over to Keith while shouldering some of Shiro's dead weight. Keith would've recognized him sooner, but he was too busy being confused by the fact that Lance was even here. It had taken Keith so long to pin point coordinates and listen to transmissions that brought him to this location in hopes of answers. He didn't know it would bring him to Shiro. He didn't know why it brought him to Lance.

He also didn't have time to ask questions and he'd prefer not to admit it, but he was glad someone showed up to help him carry the only person in the entire world he had left. He was glad someone came to give him a break in the turbulence of emotions in this past year, where he wrestled with anguish, pain and now a new, different type of agony as he looked at Shiro, limp in his arms. He was glad someone else cared--when he thought he was alone in all this.

He was glad Lance was there.

_[But you sing with a voice like I know you]_

Space was... weird. He'd never expected to be in space like this to begin with and he never expected to be on a habitable alien planet, like the one he was on now: Arus. He’d also never expected aliens to look so... cute, and cuddly.

Keith supposed he was the alien now. That thought was weird.

And amidst all the _weird_ \--like the sentient, comically huge and ridiculous robot lions, or the ancient and insane technology advanced civilization that is Altea and their two remaining Alteans, or the war that had been going on for lifetimes... one that had taken so many lives, planets, and he'd never even _known_ about it, or finally, the thrust of responsibilities in his lap to save a world that he never felt like he had a place in to begin with—Lance... Well, Lance brought with him a sense of normality.

It was easy to forget all of the questions he had (but wasn't sure it'd do him any good to ask) when Lance was trying to compete with him in every activity. It was easy to forget when Lance was telling all of his stupid jokes and making everything simultaneously light-hearted and uncomfortable. It was easy to forget, but it was also easy to notice how Lance took it upon himself to cheer up Pidge when she longed for her family, irritating her about stupid things to get her mind off of the reality of their situation. Poking at her until she stopped looking at the multiple screens before her and got her to take a break every once and a while.

It was easy to notice how he complained about the food goo, side glancing at Hunk until their resident chef became inspired to do something about it. Cooking brought Hunk comforting memories of his family and Lance may have pretended that he didn't know what he was doing, or, maybe he really didn't know. But Keith knew.

Keith could see the way Lance closed his eyes, hands linked together behind his head as Hunk talked, excited and animated, about all the different ways he wanted to spice up the kitchen. Keith saw how Lance said nothing, but there was this easy, serene smile smacked onto his annoying face as he enjoyed the way Hunk was able to forget too.

_[And suddenly I start to see]_

With Lance always causing trouble, always doing something utterly exasperating, always flirting with death on the battle field and flirting with the girls on all the planets they visited, Keith almost missed the heartache in Lance's eyes when he talked about his family. Keith almost missed the way his jokes fell flat that one day, and that look of longing behind all of his normal sly smirks that one time. He wanted to be for Lance what he was to all of them, but he just didn't know how.

Keith ended up challenging he was a better shooter. He lost the challenge, but he hoped he won something else. Lance had flexed with obnoxious flare and Keith let himself smile through rolled eyes.

He kept smiling even when Lance stopped being a complete moron and smiled back tentatively like he had something to say, but he didn't.

_[So perfect and complex, Who are you]_

Trying to figure out Lance was like trying to figure out a puzzle that had purposeful missing pieces. You just couldn't. One day you thought you had the whole thing figured out and the next you realized you were missing something again. You are left just as frustrated and confused as when you started trying in the first place.

Keith often wondered why he was trying.

Sometimes it was easier to ignore it. The puzzle, the buzzing need to keep putting it together. Sometimes he pretended that he didn't want to, so sometimes he didn't try.

But, _sometimes_... he wished that it wasn't so complicated. But then again, he was also happy that it was. It kept him from understanding his feelings.

In a life where everyone he cared about slowly trickled out of existence, he just couldn't help being skeptical. It was easier to push them all away because that was easier than thinking about them leaving him next. No if's, only when's.

Perhaps it was self-sabotage that way.

Perhaps Keith kept trying to figure out Lance simply because he wanted to know him, because Lance made Keith feel like he wasn't alone, especially when he was invading his personal space all of the time... Because Lance made Keith slowly want to not be alone anymore, even before he knew that was happening.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason he left for the Blades later.

_['Cause just with a smile I'm around you]_

Standing next to Lance was fairly easy. Fighting next to Lance was inexplicably easier. There was some kind of unspoken connection that they had when they were in the midst of combat that felt effortless. Lance had proven himself to be a talented shooter multiple times, but not just that, Lance was talented in general.

Keith knew that when he, himself, was slashing through sentries and flipping through the air to fend off the next foe, he did it with a burning, deep, truth. He fought like... well, like his life depended on it. Because it did. But he also fought like there was nothing else. Because there wasn’t. This was it.

There was a darkness, and Keith's vision became hazy with a need—with a mission.

When Lance fought it wasn't so serious. It was passionate, yes, but more often than not Keith found himself almost having fun. When Lance shot a single bullet through the air at a sentry, holding his own, he would holler with pride. He joked, enjoying life, every second of it, even if it was potentially his last. He smirked when he made a good plan or when he "saved" Keith. He was always just Lance. Shining a little through the dark tunnel that was Keith’s existence. Little by little Keith thought he was enjoying it too. Enjoying life.

He wasn’t just obsessed with being useful any more.

He wasn’t just doing everything he did for selfish reasons any more.

This wasn’t just _it_ any more.

He found himself gravitating towards everything Lance. He found that he wanted to see his wide grins, and hear his laughs. The good laughs. The ones that had Lance buckling over. The ones that left Keit--Lance breathless.

_[And I'll try my best like I know you]_

Keith didn't care about a rivalry. He let Lance say whatever Lance wanted to say because it was amusing and/or he just didn't care enough to argue, not because he had something to prove. He didn't think he was particularly good at anything. Keith just did things without thinking. He'd honestly call it reckless or dumb luck, not skill.

But that seemed to make Lance more upset with him and Keith could admit that he did care about that. Maybe that wasn't why it made Keith want to try harder at being a better pilot. Or a better swordsman. Or a better team-player.

Or a better friend. Or...

But... Maybe it was.

_[Who are you, who are you to me]_


End file.
